Books to look forward to from Bloomsbury

The international arms trade is about to become a national problem...In 2012, in a Middle Eastern souk, CIA agent Miles Brookhaven was attacked.  At the time he was infiltrating rebel groups in the area.  No one was certain if his cover had been blown or if the act was just an arbitrary attack on Westerners.  Months later, the incident remains a mystery.  Now, Liz Carlyle and her Counter Terrorism unit in MI5 have been charged with the task of watching the international under-the-counter arms trade.  With the Arabic region in such a volatile state, the British Intelligence forces have become increasing concerned that extremist Al-Qaeda jihadist are building their power base ready to launch another attack.  As the pressure mounts, Liz, and her team must intercept illegal weapons before they get into the wrong hands.  When MI5 learns that the source of the arms deals is located in Western Europe, Liz finds herself on a manhunt that leads her to Paris, to Berlin and into her own long-forgotten past.  A past buried so deep that she thought it would never resurface ...  Close Call is by Stella Rimington and is due to be published in July 2014.

The Black Grotto is by Conor Fitzgerald and is due to be published in August 2014.  There's no cure for murder.  Commissario Alec Blume, on health leave and fleeing his partner Caterina, has retreated from Rome to central Italy.  At the Villa Romanelli he enrols on a natural remedies course conducted by a young woman named Silvana.  But far from recuperating or resolving his differences with Caterina, a feverish Blume becomes isolated and sluggish with sickness.  Increasingly ill at ease in the stifling environment, the dark history of the crumbling villa and its once-magnificent gardens draws him in.  And when a Romanian girl who works for Silvana's ambiguous fiancé Niki asks for his help, Blume finds himself dragged into the shadowy case of a missing girl, and the secret horrors of the garden's malign beauty.

Three brothers come together in this uncompromising debut about a gun deal gone wrong.  Huddy Marr, the proprietor of Blue City pawnshop in Memphis, knows jewellery, guns, and guitars.  When a long-time client dies, Huddy is called to appraise his considerable gun collection.  If he can buy up the guns, Huddy knows he can make a killing and finally move to a less seedy part of town.  But he needs cash up front, and for that he needs help from his brothers.  But there is trouble inherent in these wares, and in this family.  And in this city a change of fortune doesn’t come easy.  Stephen Schottenfeld’s first novel is a masterful depiction of a business and a family, and an examination of class and law, loyalty and betrayal, and blood.  Bluff City Pawn is due to be published in October 2014.

Books that I am looking forward to reading in 2012

Around this time of the year lots of “best of lists” can be currently found online. I do have a list of my favourite books that I read this year along with some honourable mentions, which can currently be found here in my response to the Guardian’s readers books of the year. I also have my eye on a number of books that are due out the first half of 2012 that I am not only looking forward to getting my hands on but also reading.

The first book that comes to mind is Master and God by Lindsey Davis (Hodder and Stoughton). For you Falco fans out there, I must stress that this is not a Falco novel. Master and God does feature Domitian – son of Vespasian and brother to Titus. It is the story of three people and their intertwining lives. Domitian an unstable Emperor, Flavia Lucillia a wilful determined single daughter of an imperial freedwoman and Gaius Vinius Clodianus a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Lindsey Davis is known for her attention to detail and historical insight and whilst this is not a Falco novel I am fairly certain that Master and God will no doubt find favour with her longstanding fans.

The Golden Scales by Parker Bilal (Bloomsbury). The Golden Scales is the first in a new series by Bilal set in Cairo featuring an exiled Sudanese private investigator who is attempting to escape his own troubled past. Books set in foreign countries often work or they do not. I am hoping that this will work. The premise sounds good and it will be interesting to see how the author manages to marry the two different cultures (Egyptian and Sudanese) together.

Ever since I read Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips, I have loved the books published by Hard Case Crime. In this case, Lawrence Block’s Getting Off, which I know has already been published in the US, is another book that I am looking forward to reading next year. It is the tale of a beautiful and deadly female serial killer who is working her way across the country tracking down every man she has ever slept with and ruthlessly murdering them.

The Glovemaker by Stacia Brown (Random House) which tells the story of glovemaker Rachel Lockyer during the time of Oliver Cromwell. Lockyer finds herself arrested and accused of murder when the body of a child is found buried. Under a law that presumes that anyone who conceals the death of an illegitimate child is guilty of murder.

The Contract by David Levien (Transworld). Troubled former cop Frank Behr is working for an exclusive Indianapolis investigation when he finds himself on protection duty for Bernard “Cool” Kolodnik. An attempt is made on his client’s life and Behr must get to the bottom of the attempt.

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey (Transworld). A man wakes up naked unsure of who he is and whilst he is trying to work out himself whom he is there are also others on his trail as well.

The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd (Simon and Schuster) John Harriott Magistrate of the newly formed Thames River Police Office finds himself investigating a brutal murder. Based on the real life story of the Ratcliffe Highways Murders.

Holy City by Guillermo Orsi (Quercus) Buenos Aires, Argentina. A passenger liner runs aground on the muddy banks of the nearby Rio de la Plata. The passengers are reduced to sleeping in the corridors of hotels and fall easy prey to the city's criminal class, who are always willing to take a wealthy tourist hostage. The first to go missing are a Colombian drug baron and his girlfriend, apprehended by Federal Police who may or may not be all they claim to be. But criminal celebrities of this calibre are a valuable commodity, and their abductor soon finds that the couple has been lifted from under his nose. Into the confusion steps Walter Carroza, a weary but honest cop. With his sidekick and confidante, Veronica Berutti, a policeman's widow and crusading lawyer, he embarks on an investigation that will lead him from the shanty markets of Buenos Aires' Bolivian quarter through layer upon layer of corruption towards the 'Holy Land', a theme park based on ancient Palestine, where a killer with a grisly taste for memorabilia lurks.

Some Other Body (Random House) the second novel in the series by Jason Webster to feature Max Cámara with his love of flamenco and brandy, and occasional doped out high. This time around he stumbles into a web of corruption and violence, uncovering deep animosities and hidden secrets, which also forces him to question his own doubts and desires.

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (Headline) August 1845 in New York; enter the dark, unforgiving city underworld of the legendary Five Points...After a fire decimated a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last formed an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hit Ireland. These events would change the city of New York for ever. Timothy Wilde hadn't wanted to be a copper star. Timothy soon finds himself on the trail of a brutal killer, seemingly hell bent on fanning the flames of anti-Irish immigrant sentiment and threatening chaos in a city already in the midst of social upheaval. But his fight for justice could cost him the woman he loves, his brother and ultimately his life...

All I Did Was Shoot My Man (Orion) which is the fourth instalment in Mosley’s soon-to-be classic Leonid McGill series In the shadow worlds of New York, PI Leonid McGill is still struggling to ‘go from crooked to slightly bent’. When Zelda Grisham, a woman falsely imprisoned by evidence McGill had planted, reappears in his life, the detective hires a hotshot attorney to help clear her name. Little does he know that powerful enemies are still watching Zelda’s every move.

Taken by Robert Crais (Orion) When the police tell a wealthy industrialist that her missing son has faked his own kidnapping, she hires Elvis and Joe, who find out the boy and his secret girlfriend have been taken. When Cole goes undercover to try to return them, he himself is taken. Now it is up to Pike to retrace Cole’s steps, through the murderous world of human traffickers…

The Namesake by Conor Fitgerald (Bloomsbury) which is the third book in the series featuring Commissioner Alec Blume. When magistrate Matteo Arconti's namesake, an insurance man from Milan, is found dead outside the court buildings in Piazzo Clodio, it's a clear warning to the authorities in Rome - a message of defiance and intimidation. Commissioner Alec Blume, interpreting the reference to his other ongoing case - a frustrating one in which he's so far been unable to pin murder on a mafia boss operating at an untouchable distance in Germany - knows he's too close to it. Handing control of the investigation to now live-in and not-so-secret partner Caterina Mattiola, Blume takes a back seat. And while Caterina embarks on questioning the Milanese widow, Blume has had an underhand idea of his own to lure the arrogant Mafioso out of his hiding place...

Point and Shoot by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland Books) which is the final book in the Charlie Hardie trilogy. On a day like any other day, Kendra Hardie picks up the phone. A voice says, 'leave the house and you're dead'. Then the line is cut. Kendra hasn't seen her husband Charlie for nearly a decade. He hasn't forgotten about her - but neither have his enemies. And he has a lot of enemies. Charlie thought he could protect her by staying away. But now he has access to secrets his enemies will kill to keep hidden, and they're planning to start with his family. After years in exile, Charlie's arming up...and heading home.

Alpha by Greg Rucka (Mulholland Books)ALPHA Jonathan 'Jad' Bell has spent a lifetime in the US army. He can be relied on to get the job done, whatever happens, whatever the cost. So when someone needs to go undercover at the nation's biggest amusement park, Jad is the obvious choice. Aside from dealing with fights and missing children, his main responsibility is to prevent the nightmare scenario from coming to pass. This is the nightmare scenario: A group of well-trained, highly motivated terrorists infiltrate the park. They cut off all escape routes. They take hostages. They ensure every camera in the world is trained on Wilsonville...and then they turn it into a bloodbath. And on the day the nightmare becomes real, Jad and his team are all that stands between a band of ruthless killers and thousands of innocent people...including Jad's estranged wife and daughter.

Tom-All-Alone's by Lynn Shepherd (Constable and Robinson) London, 1850. Fog in the air and filth in the streets, from the rat-infested graveyard of Tom-All-Alone's to the elegant chambers in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where the formidable lawyer Edward Tulkinghorn has powerful clients to protect, and a deadly secret to hide. Only that secret is now under threat from a shadowy and unseen adversary - an adversary who must be tracked down at all costs, before it's too late. Who better for such a task than young Charles Maddox? Unfairly dismissed from the police force, Charles is struggling to establish himself as a private detective.

Ibrahim Al-Brehm is a respectable husband and a police inspector on Jeddah’s murder squad. But for the past year, he has been having an affair with a woman named Maria. Until one day she disappears. Terrified and with nowhere else to turn, Ibrahim goes to Katya, one of the few women on the force. As she ventures into Saudi Arabia’s underworld, Katya uncovers a murder that connects Maria to a human trafficking ring. Soon Ibrahim realises that the killer is closer to home than he had ever imagined. Kingdom of Strangers by Zoë Ferraris (Little Brown) is a suspenseful story of murder and deception among Saudi Arabia’s shaded alleys, gleaming compounds and vast lonely deserts.

Celebrity in Death by JD Robb (Piaktus) Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity- packed bash celebrating a new movie based on one of her famous cases. It’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays her partner Peabody – drowned in the pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. It’s up to Eve, Roarke and the real Peabody to find the killer in their midst.

An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer (Corvus) Milo Weaver is still haunted by his last job. As an expert assassin for the Department of Tourism, an ultra-secret group of super-spooks buried deep in the corridors of the CIA, he fought to keep himself sane in a paranoid and amoral profession. Now, the Department has been destroyed, and with it Weaver's livelihood. Finally he can spend time with his family - without constantly looking over his shoulder and fixing one eye on the exits. Weaver's former boss is not so settled. Soon, Weaver is sifting through what secrets, lies and misinformation he can extract from the sources he still has on the ground. If his time as a Tourist has taught him anything, it's that nothing and no-one can be trusted - even within the CIA itself...

There are of course others but the above are the ones that initially come to mind.

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Bloomsbury

The Golden Scales is by Parker Bilal and is due to be published in February 2012. A lost child. A missing hero. A bitter rivalry. In Cairo the ghosts of the past are stirring...The ancient city of Cairo is a whirling mix of the old and the new, where fates collide and the super rich rub shoulders with the desperate and the dispossessed. It is a place where ambition and corruption go hand in hand, and where people can disappear in the blink of an eye. Makana is a former police inspector who fled for his life from his native Sudan seven years ago. Down on his luck and haunted by the past, he lives on a rickety Nile houseboat. When the notorious and powerful Saad Hanafi hires him to track down a missing person Makana is in no position to refuse him. Hanafi, whose past is as shady as his fortune is glittering, is the owner of Cairo's star-studded football team. His most valuable player has just vanished and Adil Romario's disappearance threatens to bring down not only Hanafi's private empire, but the entire country. But why should the city's most powerful man hire its lowliest private detective? Thrust into a dangerous and glittering world Makana's investigation leads him into the treacherous underbelly of his adopted country - where he encounters Muslim extremists, Russian gangsters and a desperate mother hunting for her missing daughter - it becomes a trail that stirs up painful memories, leading him back into the sights of an old and dangerous enemy...

Chicago. A biological weapon is set off in the subway and quickly spreads through the city's west side. Kelly goes into the subway with a team trained in microbial forensics (essentially the next generation of CSI) and gets a hard lesson in "black biology" and the dimensions of the "coming biological war". Meanwhile, the pathogen spreads. The government is forced to quarantine sections of the city. Fences go up, and soldiers in bio-hazard suits take to the streets. Gangs take over day-to-day law and order in the sectioned off hot zones and society generally begins to unravel. Kelly, of course, is in the middle of it, tracking down the bad guys while his city teeters on the precipice. Featuring plenty of next-generation technology, We All Fall Down is by Michael Harvey and is due to be published in March 2012.

The Namesake is the third book in the Commissioner Alec Blume series of Italian crime novels by Conor Fitzgerald and is due to be published in March 2012. When magistrate Matteo Arconti's namesake, an insurance man from Milan, is found dead outside the court buildings in Piazzo Clodio, it's a clear warning to the authorities in Rome - a message of defiance and intimidation. Commissioner Alec Blume, interpreting the reference to his other ongoing case - a frustrating one in which he's so far been unable to pin murder on a mafia boss operating at an untouchable distance in Germany - knows he's too close to it. Handing control of the investigation to now live-in and not-so-secret partner Caterina Mattiola, Blume takes a back seat. And while Caterina embarks on questioning the Milanese widow, Blume has had an underhand idea of his own to lure the arrogant Mafioso out of his hiding place...

Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death is the first in a series of detective novels by James Runcie. It is due to be published in May 2012. Sidney Chambers, the Vicar of Grantchester and Honorary Canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two year old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the colour of hazelnuts and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clergyman and can go where the police cannot. In Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death Sidney, together with his roguish friend Inspector George 'Geordie' Keating, must enquire into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewellery theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a well-known jazz promoter and a shocking art forgery the disclosure of which puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but alongside the mysteries he solves he manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer and hot jazz, and the works of Tolstoy and Shakespeare - as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior.

The violent robbery of a wealthy philanthropist leaves the island of Mithros reeling, and a man dead as the perpetrators escape. For years, it seems the crimes will go unpunished; then, as investigator Hermes Diaktoros arrives to learn more about the missing Bull of Mithros, a stranger is thrown overboard by his shipmates and, lacking money or identification, is forced for a while to remain. But is he truly a stranger? To some, his face seems familiar; and when he suffers an unpleasant death, it seems someone has set themselves up as judge and jury for those long-ago offences. In his inimitable style, Hermes sets about solving the complex puzzle of who is guilty and who is innocent; what part has been played by the fabled bull, and who has fallen prey to the seductive sin of sloth. The Bull of Mithros is the sixth book in the Hermes Diaktoros series by Anne Zouroudi. It is due to be published in June 2012.

CWA Dagger Awards and the Crime Thriller Awards

The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2011 in conjunction with the CWA took place on Friday 7 October in the ballroom of the Grosvenor House Hotel along Park Lane. In attendance were a number of crime writers and shortlisted authors. These included authors David Baldacci, Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Peter James and Peter Robinson who were not only inducted into the International Hall of Fame but were also on the shortlist for the ITV3 People’s Bestseller Dagger which is voted on by the public. Once again the host for the evening was Marcus Brigstocke.

(Lee Child and Ayo Onatade ( © Pictures Ayo Onatade))

The first award that was given was the TV Dagger. The shortlist was made up of the following –

Case Histories (Ruby Films, BBC One)

Luther: Series 2 (BBC One)

The Shadow Line Company Pictures, BBC Two)

Vera (ITV Studios, ITV) and

Zen (Left Bank Pictures, BBC One).

The TV Dagger was awarded to Case Histories.

The first of the three CWA Daggers that was due to be given was the CWA John Creasey (New Blood Dagger). The nominated books were –

The Dead Women of Juarez by Sam Hawken (Serpent’s Tail)

Kiss Me Quick by Danny Miller (His blog post about writing the book can be found here) (Constable & Robinson)

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson (Doubleday)

The Dogs of Rome by Conor FitzGerald (Bloomsbury)

It was not really a surprise that the winner was S J Watson’s Before I go To Sleep. Since it has been published Before I Go To Sleep has been receiving rave reviews from both sides of the Atlantic amongst readers, reviewers and bloggers.

The second Specsavers Award to be given out was the Film Dagger. The shortlisted films were -

Brighton Rock (Optimum Releasing)

Source Code (Optimum Releasing)

True Grit (Paramount Pictures) and

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Momentum Pictures)

The film that in my opinion was the odd one out also ended up being the winner. This was of course True Grit!

The Killing started off what was a good evening for them by winning the Best Supporting Actress Dagger. The nominees were –

Amanda Abbington for Case Histories (Ruby Films, BBC One)

Ann Eleonara Jørgensen for The Killing (Arrow Films BBC4)

Tara Fitzgerald for Waking the Dead (BBC One)

Kelly Macdonald for Boardwalk Empire (HBO/Sky Atlantic)

And Ruth Wilson for Luther (BBC One)

The Best Supporting Actor Dagger nominees were –

Aidan Gillen for Thorne (Company Pictures, BBC Two)

Bjarne Henriksen for The Killing (Arrow Films, BBC 4)

Rafe Spall for The Shadow Line (Stagereel / Cité Amérique, Sky One)

John Lithgow for Dexter (Showtime Networks, FX Channel)

Søren Malling for The Killing (Arrow Films, BBC 4)

The winner was Rafe Spall for The Shadow Line.

The second CWA Dagger to be announced was the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The nominees were -

Cold Rain by Craig Smith (Myrmidon)

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Orion)

The Good Son by Michael Gruber (Corvus) His blog post for Shots can be found here, and

Before I go To Sleep by S J Watson (Doubleday)

The International TV Dagger award was also handed out and the nominations were -

The Killing (Arrow Films, BBC4)

Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Castle (Beacon Pictures/Experimental Pictures/ ABC Studios)

Dexter: Season 5 (Showtime Networks, FX Channel)

Spiral: Series 3 (Son Et Lumiere)

The winner was The Killing

The Dagger for the Best Actor went to Idris Elba for Luther (BBC) and the other nominees were –

Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Jason Isaacs for Case Histories (Ruby Films/BBC)

Lars Mikkelsen for The Killing (NRK/SVT/Arrow Films) and

Rufus Sewell for Zen (Left Bank Pictures)

The Best Actress Dagger nominations were as follows –

Brenda Blethyn for Vera (ITV Studios)

Sofie Gråbøl for The Killing (NRK/SVT/Arrow Films)

Sue Johnston for Waking The Dead (BBC)

Maxine Peake for Silk (BBC)

Kelly Reilly for Above Suspicion (La Plante Productions/ITV)

Olivia Williams for Case Sensitive (Hat Trick Productions/ITV)

The winner was Sofie Gråbøl for The Killing. The Killing walked away with 3 Dagger Awards at the ceremony.

The final CWA Dagger Award that was given out was the CWA Gold Dagger and the nominees were –

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Snowdrops by A D Miller

The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina and

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

The Gold Dagger was won by Tom Franklin’s and his novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

(Mike Stotter and Peter Robinson ( © Pictures Ayo Onatade))

The final award was the ITV3 People’s Bestseller Dagger, which was of course voted upon by the public. The winner was Peter James, which of course did not surprise many of us in the room. So all of those people that voted for Peter James will surely be expecting their promised fish and chips on Brighton Pier which he promised to buy if he won the award.

The Award ceremony will be televised in the UK on Tuesday 11 October at 9pm on ITV3

Crimefest Day 3

Needless to say, having stayed up rather late last night it meant that I am behind on the blog! So I am now playing catch up. My fellow Shotsmag contributor and all round crime fiction man Ali Karim has been posting pictures to his Facebook page so please have a look!

After the late night that I had the first panel that I managed to get to was The Grass Is Greener: Thrillers - UK Vs US. This panel was ably moderated by Nick Sayers of Hodder & Stoughton and had on the panel Charlie Charters, Simon Conway, Matt Hilton and Zoë Sharp. Surprisingly of the four authors on the panel only one of them is not published by Hodder & Stoughton. I know which author it is but do you? I was rather disappointed in not being able to attend any of the earlier panels which were Room for One More: Debut Authors which was moderated by Peter Guttridge and Suspicion: Spies Coming in From The Cold which was moderated by Michael Ridpath.

Rather sadly I also did not manage to get to any of the other panels that were being shown in the morning. It was not however for lack of trying! I kept on (in a very nice way) getting hijacked by people who wanted to talk to me. The ever effervescent Sam Eades of Headline took a party of us out to lunch. This consisted of the Shotsmag team, Jake Kerridge, Colin Bateman, Katherine Armstrong and Conor Fitzgerald whose novel Dogs of Rome was one of the fe books that I picked up as a result of Declan Burke talking sbout it. I am looking forward to reading it a lot. I spent the afternoon trying to ensure that the blog is up to date and thus did not have the opportunity to go to any of the panels this after noon. The one tht I did regret missing was Lindsey Davis being interviewed by Lauren Henderson.

One of the highlights of Saturday night is the gala dinner and for once I do not have to worry about what I am going to wear! A number of awards will also be given out and I shall let you know the result. Anyway, I am off to get dressed for the dinner.

So far I have been having a wonderful time at Crimefest. It has been so much fun catching up with various people that rather sadly the time has gone past rather quickly. So, before I forget I would like to say a huge thanks to Adrian Muller and Myles Allfrey for once again putting on such a splendid event.

Crimefest Day 2 Part 1

Okay, so I surprised myself last night and did not stay up too late. I went to early for a change. Early by my standards anyway. I was in bed by 12:30am. I am not sure that this is going to be the case today. There are lots of panels to look forward to today. It is going to be fun trying to work out which ones to attend.

I have also been very good on the book buying front. So far I have only bought three books and I don't intend to buy anymore. The three books are Chris Ewan's The Good Thief's Guide to Paris which I had to buy purely because I could not find my edition at home. The only books I brought with me to Crimefest to get signed was Chris Ewan's Good Thief's Guide series. The other two books that I bought were The Mammoth Book of the World's Best Crime Stories which I have been trying to get my hands on and the third book which I bought was Conor Fitzgerald's The Dogs of Rome which I have been hearing good things about.

The first two panels are at 9:00am in the morning. The first is Operation Petticoat: Jobs for the Girls whilst the second is Father Goose: Unusual Job for a Sleuth.

Right! I'm off, I think that I had better get a move on and get my act together or if I am not careful I may not make it to the first panel and I have not had my breakfast yet!